


Forget Every Single Care

by kaleidomusings



Category: Bleach
Genre: Attempt at Humor, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 14:52:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7849441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaleidomusings/pseuds/kaleidomusings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Orihime is forever grateful that she's blessed to have someone like Tatsuki-chan in her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forget Every Single Care

Orihime is forever grateful that she's blessed to have someone like Tatsuki-chan in her life. 

Ever since that day in middle school when Tatsuki-chan reached out to her, –becoming her friend, protecting her from bullies, and sticking with her throughout the years- Orihime doesn’t know if there is anything she can really do to repay her best friend for everything she's done for her. 

After all, it's thanks to Tatsuki-chan that Orihime was given the opportunity to meet Kurosaki-kun when they started high school. It was very brief and hardly even counted a hello, but if that hadn't happened, Orihime is sure that her life would have never changed for the better, and she's so thankful that it has. 

Of course, there were numerous hardships that came with such changes, but Orihime is still grateful for those as well. Without the good and bad experiences, she'd never have had the chance to become the person she is today. Much less be here at this very moment, on the phone with Tatsuki-chan and telling her how her first date with Kurosaki-kun had gone. 

She's right in the middle of describing all the fun things they had done at their picnic in the park (and how delicious her butterscotch, pineapple, and red pepper salad was and isn’t it great that Kurosaki-kun had _eaten every bit of it_?), when the voice on the other line interrupts her. 

“Wait,” Tatsuki-chan says, suddenly sounding pained, “What did you just say?”

Orihime blinks and cuddles closer with her stuffed bear, Enraku. “I slept with Kurosaki-kun,” she repeats. 

There's a sound like a loud thud, as if something heavy –a person, maybe- has fallen over. But before she could ask about it, Tatsuki-chan is suddenly shouting in her ear. “I can't believe you! You really did it on your first date?” 

“Of course,” Orihime protests, suddenly feeling miserable and unhappy, even after spending such a wonderful day with Kurosaki-kun. She can't figure out exactly why Tatsuki-chan is overreacting like she is. “Is that wrong? It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“A good--? Are you even listening to yourself?” There's a long moment of silence and then a frustrated huff, as if Tatsuki-chan is forcing herself to take a deep breath in order to calm herself. “All right. I’ll just have to kill Ichigo the next time I see him.”

Orihime gasps. “Tatsuki-chan!”

“I mean it,” her best friend says in a tone that almost sounds like a growl, “That’s what he gets for taking advantage of you like that! And why in the world didn’t you protest, even halfheartedly? I mean, I know how much you care about this guy, but don’t you have any shame doing it in a public place?!” 

“But I asked him to do it!” she tries to explain, “And it was really quick too!”

There's another long moment of silence, and Orihime prays to anyone who might be listening to please help calm Tatsuki-chan down. She doesn’t want to get Kurosaki-kun in trouble and it just _felt so right_ , so why couldn’t her best friend be happy for them?

“Orihime,” Tatsuki-chan says suddenly, “Can I call you back later?”

She blinks in surprise. Whatever she expected Tatsuki-chan to say, it certainly wasn’t that. “Um-- Sure. I--I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah, later,” Tatsuki-chan replies distractedly and hangs up. 

\--

“Onii-chan!” Yuzu calls from the living room, “Phone!”

Ichigo dashes out of his bedroom, leaps down the stairs, and quickly snatches up the item in question from his youngest sister before his idiotic father can. He hurries back up to his bedroom and shuts the door behind him, climbing up onto his bed to put as much distance between himself and where his nosy old man and sisters are surely spying on him again. It's probably Inoue, after all, and the last thing he wants is for them to embarrass him in front of his new girlfriend. 

_Girlfriend._  

It's amazing to think how far they’ve come in order to finally be in this kind of relationship with one another. Had he been anyone else, he might have started grinning like an idiot at the thought, but Ichigo –being Ichigo- simply furrows his brow and holds the phone up to his ear. Even if his family is listening in on him, he likes to pretend that he has a single ounce of privacy in this crazy household. 

Squashing the anxiety that he suddenly feels building in his chest, he lays back against the wall as nonchalantly as he can, even if no one can see him do it. “Yeah?” he answers, trying to sound casual. 

The voice that screams in his ear is not the one he's expecting at all. “Kurosaki Ichigo, I am going to castrate you with my bare hands!"

Ichigo straightens up in surprise, his ears still ringing from the onslaught. “Tatsuki?”

“You heartless jerk!” she shouts. “You’re just lucky Orihime isn’t upset with you, because I’m about ready to tear you apart as it is!”

He sighs and scratches the back of his head, wondering how things became this complicated so quickly. “Tatsuki, calm down. What did Inoue say to you?”

“You still can’t call her by her first name, you jerk? And I can’t tell you! It’s too embarrassing!”

“She probably told you about how we slept with each other. But I mean it when I say that’s all we did.”

Silence reigns for some time before Tatsuki speaks again. “You honestly expect me to believe that?” 

“No. But I'm telling you the truth, because you’re obviously freaking out by thinking I took advantage of Inoue,” Ichigo replies, feeling suddenly tired. Dating Inoue is nice, but everything else that comes with it is so exhausting. 

“What are you doing falling asleep at the park, anyway?” Tatsuki asks, her voice returning to a more normal volume. “The both of you must have looked like idiots doing that.”

It's probably the closest thing to an apology Ichigo is going to get, so he takes it. “Shut up,” he replies, lying down on his back. “It wasn’t my idea, and I didn’t even sleep either.” Ichigo just might have held Inoue against his chest and dozed off for a little while. There's a difference. 

He can tell that Tatsuki is smiling, even if he can’t see it. “Take good care of that girl for me,” she says. 

Ichigo closes his eyes. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Good. Otherwise, I would kill you quite dead. Now hurry up and call her to say goodnight, you loser.”

“I would have done that even if you hadn’t told me to, idiot.”

Having grown up with a tomboy like Tatsuki, Ichigo is thankful to her for a lot of things -being his friend, defending him from bullies, and giving him a reason to take karate somewhat seriously-, but that issn’t all. 

He's grateful that she'd been the one to protect Inoue long before he came along, because it's given Inoue the opportunity to grow into the young woman he's come to know and love. 

But of course, that sort of thing is way too sappy for his tastes, so it's quickly discarded as Ichigo hangs up and starts to dial his girlfriend’s phone number. 

\--

During the next few weeks as a couple, Ichigo and Orihime continue to take naps with one another whenever they get the chance, mainly because they enjoy just _being_ together so much. 

Ichigo doesn’t mind it, -even if his friends are always so taken aback when he admits that they still haven’t done “anything worth mentioning”- because he likes watching Inoue sleep. She has a habit of making the funniest expressions and saying the strangest things while unconscious, which he secretly finds adorable. 

Orihime loves it, because she's discovered that Kurosaki-kun’s scowl almost never falters, even when he’s asleep. But when he’s having a good dream or when she wakes up first and gives his hand a light squeeze, there’s nothing that makes her happier than watching the tension between his brows fade away and how his mouth softens into something that almost resembles a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally titled, "Miscommunication", for obvious reasons. It was also really fun to write, because I love these characters and the dynamic they have with each other. Hope you liked it too and please leave kudos and comments!


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